PureVolume Presents: Tegan and Sara Interview

You can read PureVolume's recent interview with Sara Quin (Tegan and Sara) here. Sara discusses the duo's upcoming new album Heartthrob and some of its themes.

From The Interview

Itís very dark, this record. But in terms of the melodies and instrumentation, we really wanted something that was upbeat. I wanted this record to be the kind that you would put on at a party, the kind of record you would love to hear at a festival. I think in the past, weíve been very happy with the idea that our music was something you listened to alone, or something that you listened before you went to bed, or something that sounded best on headphones. So for the first time in our career, we really were saying, "Yeah, this music is still as dark and depressing as ever." But itís the kind of dark and depressing that makes you want to dance.

That makes absolutely no sense. I gather it would have been to forward to say "we want to make music that'll get us on top 40 radio". Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Quote:

I wanted someone like him, who said, "That’s a beautiful song, and it could go in a lot of different directions. But if you want it to be a pop song, and you want it to be heard by more people than ever before, we’re gonna have to take some chances with the production, and we’re gonna push this song into a completely different emotional place."

And on our last couple of records (The Con, Sainthood), I probably would’ve said, "Absolutely not. That’s not what the song is about, so it needs to be preserved and protected." But with Greg, I didn’t feel any of those hesitations. I was just like, "Cool. Yeah. Let’s blast it off into space—whatever we need to do, let’s do it!"

And we’re very cognizant of the ‘80s influence that probably happened very early on in our development, when we were kids. And it’s certainly informed our music in the past, but never as much as it has with this record. But I also didn’t want it to sound retro—I really still wanted the record to feel very modern. So we talked a lot about Phoenix and Robyn and stuff that’s very contemporary and happening right now—where you can see the influence from the past, but it still sounds like a future band.